October 7, 2013

It’s time
you started loving your love handles.
Your body fat isn't just sitting there jiggling. It’s actually producing essential hormones. No one suspected
such a thing until biologist Jeffrey
Friedman co-discovered the hormone leptin, and the surprising fact that it
regulates food intake and body weight.

So, if you
thought it was sheer willpower keeping you from eating those cupcakes, think again. In fact,
Friedman’s research shows that without the leptin
produced in our fat cells—which tells our brains, “You’re full for now!”—all of
us would be chowing down non-stop.

Jeffrey
Friedman’s seminal discovery completely transformed
how “fat” is viewed—and set off a tidal wave of new research on body weight
and what governs it. Dr. Friedman discusses:

--The
average American eats over 800,000
calories each year. Yet, most of us maintain our body weight within a
fairly narrow range. How?

--How does
leptin relate to weight loss, dieting, and the obesity epidemic? Are there biological processes that make losing weight difficult?

--Is
obesity a disease, a symptom, or something else entirely? What are current and future treatments?

Professor
of molecular genetics at Rockefeller University and an investigator for the
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Jeffrey Friedman received the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award (often hailed as the American Nobel prize) in 2010. The author of over 150
scientific papers, he is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and its
Institute of Medicine; the recipient of the Shaw Prize in Life Science and Medicine,
the Keio Medical Science Prize, and numerous other awards; as well as a
regularly featured scientist on such programs as PBS’s NOVA ScienceNOW.

This edition of the Secret Science Club
is sponsored by the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation.
The Foundation works to foster the prevention and treatment of disease and
disabilities by honoring excellence in basic and clinical science, educating
the public, and advocating for support of medical research.

The Secret Science Club is curated by Dorian Devins, Margaret Mittelbach, and Michael Crewdson. Dorian Devins is an NYC-based jazz singer and lyricist, and the former host of WFMU's “The Speakeasy.” Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson write about nature in the strangest of places; they are co-authors of Carnivorous Nights and Wild New York.